Quote Originally Posted by OakLeaf View Post
I don't know the answer to your question, but I found a site that will convert mmol/l of cholesterol to mg/dl, which is the measure we use in the USA... that should give anyone who does know the answer a head start.

your HDL is 85 mg/dl
total cholesterol is 209 mg/dl
Those numbers look perfectly OK to me. Yes, the total is slightly higher than the 200 mg/dl recommendation, but your HDL (the good cholesterol--H is for "healthy") is quite high and is bringing up the total number. This is an example of why you have to look at the total cholesterol/HDL ratio and not just the raw numbers--by the ratio, you can see that your numbers are fine and there's no reason to make major changes in the absence of other reasons to do so.

BTW, for those wondering how LDL is measured, usually it isn't measured at all. It is calculated using the following formula, known as the Friedewald equation: (Total cholesterol) = (HDL) + (LDL) + (triglycerides/5). Dividing the triglycerides by 5 is an estimate of VLDL as was mentioned previously, and the formula is not accurate with very high triglyceride levels (over 400, I think).